Brown, Dr. John O., Sr. AT&T Miami-Dade County African-American History Calendar, 1997/1998. | The Black Archives History & Research Foundation of South FL, Inc.
In 1956, Dr. John Brown went to the head of the Miami branch of the National Association for the Advance of Colored People (NAACP) and offered to list his children as plaintiffs in a suit to desegregate the Dade County Public Schools. It was two years after the landmark Brown vs. the Board of Education decision in Topeka, Kansas, had been decided by the U.S. Supreme Court, ruling that segregation in public schools was against the law. “Well look . . . we are getting behind the times,” he declared. Something should be done in Dade County, and if you are looking for somebody to file a suit, then here, I am offering my kids here. We are ready to do it.”
The ensuing, hard-fought legal battle was not entirely settled until Dr. Brown’s eldest son had completed Harvard University, but the effort still helped dismantle the barriers to equality of educational opportunity that had for generations limited black children in Dade County.
John O. Brown, a native of Colbert, Oklahoma, was born on October 23, 1922. He graduated from the University of Wisconsin (Madison) in 1943, the same year he married the former Marie Louise Faulkner. He completed Meharry Medical College, in Nashville, Tennessee, in 1950 and served residencies in General Surgery and Ophthalmology at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Tuskegee, Alabama, between 1951 and 1955. He took post-graduate training in Ophthalmology at the University of Illinois in 1954. Dr. Brown has practiced in Miami since 1955.
Dr. Brown’s thirst for justice, equality of opportunity, and full citizenship rights for African-Americans was heightened by his experiences in World War II, where he won a Purple Heart with Oak Leaf Clusters during Arno, Po Valley and Apennines Campaign in Italy.
A charter member of the Miami Chapter of the Congress of racial Equality (CORE), he served as the project director for numerous demonstrations undertaken by the group to protest segregation in retail stores, restaurants and entertainment and recreation facilities in the county. He led Sit-ins at W.T. Grant, McCrory’s, Jackson Byrons, and F.W. Woolworth; Sit-ins at Royal Castles, Rebel Steer, Muggies Restaurant, and Jumbo’s; and picket-lines at the Olympia and Miami Theatres, the drive-in movies at 81st Street and 7th Avenue and 69th Street and 22nd Avenue. Dr. Brown also led the Wade-in at Crandon Park.
Additionally, Dr. Brown is an active, Life Member of the NAACP who provided two plaintiffs for the bus desegregation suit filed against Dade County. When detractors alleged that the NAACP had been infiltrated by Communists, he testified on the organization’s behalf.
Dr. Brown’s leadership abilities have been rapped by many organizations, as reflected by his numerous civic affiliations and awards. He was a charter member of the Dade County Community Relations Board (CRB), organized in 1963, and he has been a member of both the regional and national boards of directors of the National Conference of Christians and Jews (NCCJ). In 1959-60 and 1962, he named “Man of the Year” by the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, of which he is a member. Active for many years in professional medical circles, Dr. Brown has held several notable leadership positions therein, including a term as president of the National Medical Association, 1986-87.
Sources: Curriculum Vitae; and “Dr. John O. Brown,” by Tananarive Due in Miami in Our Own Words: Celebrating the First Hundred Years, Andrews and McMeel, 1995.
Item 4: 1997/1998 Calendar